Child & Youth Permanency
Families First believes that every child should have a safe, nurturing, life-long family to protect and guide them, but not all children in Georgia have this support. That's why we provide adoption services, foster care, permanency cooperatives, and other support services to ensure the long-term stability for children and youth who don't currently have a lasting family connection.
Adoption Services
Foster Care
Georgia Center for Resources and Support
Permanency Cooperatives
Placement to Permanency
Reunion Registry
Whatley-Showell Center - A Second Chance Home
Youth Independent Living Program & Transitional Living Services
Adoption Services
Adoption Work-Life Program
Through phone consultations and related educational strategies, this program educates individuals nationally about how to adopt a child from other states. In Georgia, adoption seminars are requested by organizations and held in places of employment.
Domestic Home Study and Post Placement Program
This program provides services to individuals, couples and families seeking to adopt a child within the United States. The services provided include parent training and preparation, home studies, placement approval, as well as post-adoption services including post placement reports and supervision. This program does not place children for adoption, but works in collaboration with the client's domestic placement resource.
Foster to Adopt Program
In our continued effort to ensure all children have a "forever family" our foster to adopt program provides services and support to foster parents who are seeking to adopt their foster child(ren). Services include foster parents support and supervision as well as adoptive services including parent training and preparation, home studies, placement approval and post adoption services including post placement reports and supervision.
International Home Study and Post Placement Program
Services including parent training and preparation, home studies, placement approval, and post adoption services such as post placement reports and supervision are available to individuals, couples and families seeking to adopt a child outside of the United States. This program does not place children for adoption, but works closely with the client's international placement resource.
Special Needs Adoption Program
In collaboration with state child welfare agencies, Families First provides services to individuals, couples, and families seeking to adopt a child from the state foster care system including recruitment, parent training and preparation, home studies, placement approval, and post adoption services including post placement reports and supervision.
Foster Care
Families First's foster care program provides safe and temporary
homes for children in Georgia's foster care system. Our staff provides
foster families with the additional resources they need to be
successful including: free training, support services, and 24 hour
access to our Case Specialists.
Georgia Center for Resources and Support
The Center is a state wide project funded by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, and presented by Families First in collaboration with Bethany Christian Services. The purpose of the Center is to increase resources and supportive services for adoptive and foster families. Services include referrals and supportive services through the statewide advisors, numerous training and education events, support groups, comprehensive website of adoption resources, adoption and foster care family events and activities, lending library, and dedicated chat rooms. For more information, visit the Center's web site.
Permanency Cooperatives
We've traded the concept of "group homes" -- laden with negative
imagery, for the more positive philosophy of a cooperative -- where
agency, community, family and state come together to ensure that
community involvement is an integral part of the cooperative experience
for our youth, and that those supports will continue after they leave
our care. Families First has four Permanency Cooperatives located in
Metro Atlanta that offer supportive care for male and female youth
between the ages of 13-20. Each cooperative can serve between six to
seven teens.
Placement to Permanency
The Placement to Permanency Initiative seeks to empower youth in foster care to take an active role in developing lifelong familial connections that will provide them with an emotional and/or legal commitment. To accomplish this goal, Families First, in partnership with DFCS, utilizes two specific program components: Family Finding and Kinship Navigator. Family-Finding and Kinship Navigator services assists youth in locating and connecting with family members and/or kinship relations who are able to give long-term emotional, economic and housing support. These intensive services also help permanency caregivers secure the benefits, services and supports they need to care for the youth.
Reunion Registry
This is a state-wide program that employs education strategies to provide service to birth parents, adopted persons, adoptive parents, and siblings. Services include non-identifying information to adult adopted persons and parents of minors, search services to adult adopted persons, birth parents, and adult siblings, registration services to birth parents, and counseling and intermediary services. This program also provides phone or in-person consultations at no charge to anyone in the United States who is dealing with search and reunion issues. For more information, visit the Reunion Registry's web site.
Whatley-Showell Center - A Second Chance Home
A Second Chance Home offers housing and support services for teen mothers between the ages of 13 to 19 with one child between infancy to pre-school age. The program assists young mothers between the ages of 13 to 19 in developing parenting skills, completing their education and becoming self-sufficient.
Youth Independent Living Program & Transitional Living Services
The Independent Living Program provides supportive services to clients transitioning out of the foster care system. Youth ages 18 to 21 years of age live in supervised apartments while learning a variety of life skills to assist in their transition to adulthood.
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